Working on a new kind of climate control system for Vivs

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

I have been thinking of this for some time.
The kinds of heating systems are kind of inefficient and sometimes very dangerous for
our beloved pets.
From infra red heat sources that can heat surfaces to the point of burning our little babies.
and heat pads that can also make surfaces too hot to the touch.

Also controlling humidity.

I am working on a internal heating/Cooling system that conditions the air and not the surfaces in the enclosure.
And at the same time humidifies the air.
That would be safe for frogs and even micro fauna.

I am also experimenting with double wall glass enclosures to eliminate condensation of water
on the inside or out side of the glass.

Now you might say why does he say cooling.
For the People that have toads or frogs that like that like cooler temps in hot
homes in like Arizona.

I have a 24 X 18 X 24 exo terra that I plan on setting up for 2 whites tree frogs.
I am planning on the system taking up 3 inches of the back of the enclosure
and be about 18inches tall.
Having a external reservoir for the distilled water for the humidifier.
Also planning on a controller that can send an email if any problems occur.
and can be controlled remotely via a internal web server.
and a washable air filter to keep out bugs like spring tales and fruit flies.

The system will run off of of low voltage DC so the system can be easily battery backed up.
Use a shell to put into the enclosure and build your interior around it and the system will drop
into the top of the shell and can be removed for service.

[kueluck]

Ok, you got my attention.

[deranged chipmunk]

A better mouse trap? I'm definitely interested to see what you come up with.

[Mentat]

Interesting concept ! Sounds like you are building the equivalent of one of those salt water tanks that have all support systems in tank behind a black panel. Do wonder how you are going to fit all necessary equipment in there. Best of luck to you Louis and be safe !

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

The solid state heat pumps are on the way.
I ordered two units.

They are 40mm X 40mm

and a friend of mine is making some heat sinks to fit these units.
to fit inside a 2in diameter PVC pipe

you just apply voltage to the unit and one side gets hot and the other side gets cold.
no compressors and the only moving parts will be the fans.
and these units are pretty inexpensive now. $7.00 each retail.

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

Update.

I have received the solid state heat pumps and had a little time to play with them.

I connected them to my bench DC power supply and dialed in 12V @ 1A and connected the red lead to the positive and the black lead to the negative.
and slowly increased the current to 1A for a few seconds while monitoring the temp on both sides to find out witch side is the hot side.

I know from experience that you must have a heat sink of some kind on the hot side at minimum to keep the unit from burning up,

I had a old CPU heat sink with fan handy and it is the perfect size for it.
I applied some heat sink compound and attached it to the hot side of the unit.

I connected the fan to another 12V supply. and reapplied current to the unit.

after 20 seconds the cold side got down to 33F and the hot side with the heat sink and fan got up to 95F

A friend of mine that has a 3D printer is making a chamber for me to mount the unit with two heat sinks
that will channel air across each side separately.

Wow a 62°F differential!!! with only 1A of current!!!
As my friends across the pond will say " I'm chaffed to bits!"
Now that is with out a heat sink on the cold side.

The great thing about this unit is that if I need to reverse the system and cool the viv all I have to do is
reverse the polarity of the power going to the solid-state heat pump.

The real test will be with the unit mounted in the flow separation chamber.
and measuring the input and output of each side with the system inside a test viv A exo terra Natural Terrarium Small/Tall 45 x 45 x 60 cm / 18” x 18” x 24” (WxDxH)

With the cold side intake and exhaust directed to outside air.
and the hot side with its intake and exhaust inside of the viv.

I have a multi channel thermocouple data recorder that can sample temps every .5 second if I want
but I think a sample every 30 seconds is good enough that way I can have it run for a week with out running out of memory.

I will monitor the input and outputs of each side of the unit and the ambient temp of both the viv and work shop. (68F during the winter and 72F for the summer.)
So I can see how fast the viv temp get to the set point and how close the unit can keep it to the set point of 85°F
First using 1A of current in increasing the current by .5 until the max of 2.5 even thou the specs call for 3A. I like to play it safe.

The viv will have everything in it that it would normally have except a frog.
Including a CFL hood with two 60W 15K bulbs set to run from 7am to 5pm. To see what temp differential that causes.
Having items in there with some decent mass with help with temperature stability.
Also keeping a standard humidity of 75% RH with a hygrotherm and a zoomed reptifogger.

I am thinking of couple of simpler systems to test also.

One with out a solid state heat pump.
Use a power resistor as a heat source mounted on the heat sink.
This will be a lower cost unit for areas that do not require cooling and need extra power for heating I.E Canada

Another unit that does use a solid-state heat pump but the unit mounted on a glass surface to pass the thermal waste through the glass
to a heat sink on the other side.
Hopefully the thermal variance in the glass won't bee too great and not cause a crack.
I will test this and a plain sheet of tempered glass the same thickness as a standard exo terra.

God I love being an engineer!

[Cap10Squirty]

I've seen these units before...peltier unit? I believe I've seen someone using them to cool down an Axolotl's aquarium....could be used for any animal really but since they require cooler water....

I'm interested in seeing how this turns out

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

I've seen these units before...peltier unit? I believe I've seen someone using them to cool down an Axolotl's aquarium....could be used for any animal really but since they require cooler water....

I'm interested in seeing how this turns out

You're absolutely correct!

[deranged chipmunk]

Peltier systems have been discussed in the planted tank community for years. The problem has always been cost. I am very interested in seeing the final results on this one Louis!

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

Sorry Folks but there will be a delay in this project.

My bother passed away some time from the evening of 12/24 to 11am 12/25.

I am currently in SC with family.

One heck of a Christmas present, and his 50th birthday was 12/24 !!!!

[deranged chipmunk]

My condolences, my friend. I am sorry to hear about your loss.

[Truffs1178]

I'm so sorry to hear that.

[Mentat]

I'm very sorry for your brother's death Louis and will include him in my prayers tonight !

[Hellsrage]

What terrible news. :'(

Sorry to hear about your loss.

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

Thanks everyone,
The visitation is tomorrow and the funeral is sunday.

So I am trying to keep my mind off of this at the moment.

For the experiment of placing a Peltier unit directly on the glass with heat sinks on the unit and on the other side of the glass
I have found a couple of heat sinks that have fans on them for CPU cooling that I thing will work well for the test.

On the inside of the teat enclosure I plan on using this unit.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001QXDQ9C/ref=pe_385040_30332200_pe_309540_26725410_item_ima ge


I chose this one for the inside of the test enclosure since the airflow is directed to one side.

I have some plastic coated NdFeB, Grade N42 magnets that have a pulling force of almost albs each.
and I will mount them on the ends of each leg of the 4 fasteners on the heatsink fans module.
That should hold the two heatsink modules together nicely.


Here is the heatsink fan module I am using on the out side of the test enclosure.


I chose this unit since it is a low profile and its airflow direction is not a concern.

I hope that having the heatsink directly on the other side of the Peltier unit.
with the glass in between it that the thermal waste be it high or low temp will be a carried away by the heat sink fast enough
to prevent the thermal gradient in the glass low enough to keep it from cracking.

So far the cost of all the above equipment is less than $40.00 US retail.
This does not include the cost of the controller for the fans and temperature sensing.

And the power requirements are very low so far.
With the fans and Peltier unit running at 80% of max I figure less than 5A total @12V DC

[Cap10Squirty]

This reminds me of when I was building my custom gaming PC

I'm sorry to hear about your brother. I hope you and your family can find strength and comfort from each other and those around you.

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

Sorry I haven't updated this thread but all research has been on hold since I have been busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest.
Work has been relentless and in the last 2 months I have been home a total of 2 weeks.